Wonders never cease. While hunting for posts, I ran across the Father Fist-i-cuff story, right in the News and Messenger.
Basically, two priests at Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church got into an argument over office matters and the assistant pastor assaulted the pastor, Father Eversole. Father Smith, the assaulting priest, is no longer associated with that parish. This is just not your everyday incident at church. Both men are 45.
Charles C. Smith, the associate pastor, was arrested Nov. 22 after an argument over office-related matters in the rectory, said Arlington Diocese spokeswoman Joelle Santolla. The argument quickly escalated into a physical confrontation, said Santolla.
Eversole, 45, went to the hospital for a cut over his eyes and Smith, 45, was charged with unlawful wounding, according to Prince William County spokeswoman Erika Hernandez.
What ever happened to the good old days when we got to read about stigmata occurring at a nearby Woodbridge Catholic Church? Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Church got a great deal of positive coverage for its miracles. Maybe some of our readers are correct. Perhaps America is going to hell in a hand basket when we have priests duking it out. I haven’t gotten past a priest named Father Eversoul, ooops, make that Eversole. Actually the miracles at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, back in the early 90’s, involved weeping statues of the Virgin Mary.
How embarrassing for the parishoners. So what do you say to your priest (or minister) if he was involved in something like that? Do you pretend you just don’t know? I just didn’t know priests fought. On the other hand, it is heart-warming to learn that some of them are human, have feet of clay, and lose their tempers. Most people, if they were honest, would admit to wanting to punch their boss in the nose. Why should priests be any different.
Well, the offender isn’t there anymore, so you don’t have to worry about what to say to him.
You could probably tell the other priest, “I’m so sorry….I heard what happened,” and leave it at that.
It bugs me when things happen but people try to pretend nothing happened or that they don’t know about it, so they don’t say anything. Makes it much worse for the people involved, I think.
Incidentally, when I was growing up, one of the weeping statues was making rounds in Massachusetts churches. My parents were heavily involved in the church and got to take the statue home for a few days. I remember getting up really early every day, like you do Christmas morning, to see if Mary was weeping.
No dice. –sigh–
I might just ignore the 800 pound elephant in the room.
That is a cute little aside, Pinko. I can’t imagine getting to take home a weeping statue. I can’t brush aside the image of taking home the class hamster over the weekend. Just smack me.
The ones at Elizabeth Ann Seton were big statues. Too large to take home. Supposedly they only did it when a certain priest was around. He was transferred to another parish. I would be interested in knowing what became of him and if he has had similar experiences. if anyone knows, please post.
@Moon-howler
This wasn’t one of the huge ones. But of course, it seemed pretty huge to me at the time, so it’s hard to tell.
Hamster? LOL!
I have a hard time ignoring elephants. But I bet that doesn’t surprise you.
It doesn’t surprise me in the least, Pinko. 🙄
I think I misspoke. Isn’t is an 800 pound gorilla? Sorry about that.
What is the likelyhood of a priest having the name EVER SOLE? Just the sole part gets me. The irony of it all.
@Moon-howler
Ha! I didn’t even notice that. Should have. I love word play.
Haha. Some of these threads remind me of a John Waters’s movie which will go unnamed for fear of a censor – teabaggers and weeping Marys.
Censored, I don’t know what John Water’s film you are referring to. Spell it out.
Rhymes with Venus and most males are familiar with it. Haha.
Actually, that’s the technical term – the movie uses another slang term that starts with the same letter.
Can I rule out Polyester? Would it have to do with a type of bird? Some of those birds have red heads? A cartoon one is named Woody?
Censored and I have put on our white gloves for the day. We are also polishing our halos for not using inappropriate language. The day is young, however.
Yes, a bird. One of Waters’s tamer movies – also great comment on egdy B&W art photography and the New York art scene.
Confession, I have never seen a John Waters film.
I need to learn to spell or type! Polyester was the first one I saw . It was in “odorama” -complete with scratch and sniff cards! We found the earlier, more shocking stuff at one of the local mainstream video stores in a section labelled “le bad”. One of the first things I saw on arrival in Helsinki was a billboard advertizing Hairspray. Mainstream Waters!
It’s kind of fitting that Waters’s films aren’t farfetched for the subject – pugilist priests.
I wish I had know that word early this morning when I wrote the post. Pugilist Priests would have been a great title.
>>> I just didn’t know priests fought.
Weren’t around for the Crusades – eh? 😉
BTW, what hamster?
RDD, you never had a class hamster? Schools don’t do it any more, but they used to keep pets in some classes. Kids got to take the hamster or whatever it was (sometimes a baby chick) home on weekends.
Now they send home stuffed animals instead. Kids think it’s a big deal, but that’s because they never knew about the hamsters.
Er…if I look up John Waters, am I going to start getting pop-ups I don’t want? (Punny, huh?)
I find it sad that the incident wasn’t just left in the local police blotter. Everyone that was affected was informed immediately. It’s not newsworthy more than a week after the fact. Some in the media were apparently so desperate to make this a major news event that they actually tried to get random people near the church to speak on camera…they were not members of the parish but were portrayed as such. As for those asking about the Seton Miracles. The statues are still around as are some of those who witnessed the miracles mentioned in the book. Everyone is doing just fine =)
Move along kids, nothing to see here.
Actually, LJHS, an assault is an assault. When it involves people who are community leaders the incident becomes newsworthy. The kids on this block move when they decide it is time to move.
Certain groups of people who commit crimes will always make it to the front pages–priests, nuns, ministers, monks, politicians, cops, doctors, teachers, Hollywood stars, singers, CEO’s and illegal aliens, to name a few.
You made excellent points…tail is inserted firmly between my legs.
Thanks LJHS. Ha it not been so late at night, or early in the morning, to be more accurate, I would have said welcome. We hope you will become a regular.
No worries..it just hits home for me because i know both priests very well and this has been such a shock to a very tight-knit community. I understand they are not just the ‘average joe’s’ getting into a fight. However it really cuts deep when WUSA-9 puts up video and tries to hassle the parents into doing interviews while we are waiting in the carpool line to pick up our children. Since nobody would discuss the situation out of respect for the privacy of both priests, the news crew went down to the tire place at the bottom of the hill and made it look like the people there were from the parish. It was pretty misleading and more akin to tabloid journalism than anything really newsworthy…at least in my opinion.
That was pretty low (and fairly typical) of the press. I can see why you are angry and upset, especially when you know both men personally. I actually appreciate you bringing this side of the story to our blog. My intent was to stimulate discussion rather than sensationalize an event that I am sure deeply scarred your church. And I confess, I was glib, saying Father Fist-i-cuff. My apologies.